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TV rights aren’t just about who has the deepest wallets. Rights holders make the decision also based on reach and growing the sport - most of F1’s revenue isn’t from TV - it’s from people attending races and sponsors fees.

It’s behind a paywall in countries where people are willing to pay for it. And many of those deals include free-to-air highlights or select races. Putting it fully behind a paywall makes no sense in every country.

You know to be honest the $1.21 bn F1 made off F1 rights in 2025 does sound like small change for Apple. But the complication for F1 is putting a minority sport globally behind a paywall. I doubt that would end well for anyone.

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It’s a fair point but it’s also about the economics. The fact is that selling the global rights for F1 versus selling it to each country at the rate that makes sense to each territory’s economics is a very easy decision for F1 to make.

Interesting I wasn’t aware of that. Thank you.

It’s fanciful to think that it makes sense for Apple to compete with UK rights. That’s more money than the US deal for a smaller audience. You’d have to start charging for F1 via Apple TV to make it make any sense.

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Looks like Germany has always been a separate agreement. Be very surprised not to see that extended as well.

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

This feels like a move hastened by Apple’s interest. But I could be way off base. No mention of German coverage in that. Have they already lost that?

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Can’t tell if sarcasm or not 🤷

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

Everyone enjoyed that race except the stewards and journalists #f1

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

You might be right. But these two things are also undoubtedly connected.

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

F1 fans: “this is all artificial and the overtakes mean nothing we need to FIX F1”. Also F1 fans: “the Sprint in Miami was shit”. Be careful what you wish for.

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

You need to separate actual news sites with journalists and standards from the aggregator sites. There are good people out there who love the sport and report on it properly. It’s just a shame so many people see the bad ones.

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

By the way I should have said “the Japanese F1 Grand Prix” and not just “Japan” because Japan is fucking awesome.

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

My one word review on Japan: Meh. That said I think people need to look ahead at where these regs could take us. We’ve had worse starts to a new era than this. Give it some time.

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

If you think F1 will be disrupted by the ongoing war, I’d like to introduce you to a company called Travel Places. Pretty sure they’ll have it all in hand.

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

Literally the funniest thing about the Winter Olympics is everyone assuming this is the first time alpine sports have been covered in 4 years. Those drone shots of skiing have been in use for several years. There’s an actual World Cup series etc.

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

F1 accidentally making timing data available at the start of a secret test and only shutting it down at lunchtime is peak F1.

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

All 19 seconds of it! I’m willing to bet that was originally 60 seconds before engineering got hold of it.

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

The livestream lost most of its viewers after the reveal. I mean I get your point, but this event was very much about Ford, hence the timing for a US audience. What else were they going to do?

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

Available on Prime at the moment. Added to list!

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

I think silly is about right. Love Crudup who was excellent in Harry Clarke, not to mention Denise Gough, but nothing about this show hung together, clunky immigration storyline included. Given the era we live in, this seemed like a missed opportunity to put it mildly.

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

Good find. But contracts like that are renegotiated all the time. Renault/Alpine could simply change the terms if they thought the sale was in their interests. A sweetener/penalty for early release of shares would be the most obvious way.

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

Not saying it’s not still a LOT of money, but over 60% of that will go on tax, and expenses etc. I’m pretty sure however he’s making good money doing exhibitions and appearances as well so - tiny violin.

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

He’s special. But they don’t all survive the tour. So let’s see if he can keep his head.

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

Could have said the same thing about MVG at one point. Remember the Rob Cross hype? The extraordinary thing about Taylor was his longevity. Littler has to show staying power in my book.

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

I bet FIFA feel pretty stupid right now.

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

There are odd days I miss my years working on Sky Darts. Then I thought “I could have just spent 4 hours making a Ryan Searle promo” and I calmed down.

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

Had a disgusting reply to this which led to me blocking someone here for the first time. Once again your perceived dislike for a team, or love of another driver should not be a factor in how you feel about this. I’m sick of the online discourse around a bloody sport.

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

if I’m honest that any of this is ANYONE’s business except theirs. But people will make it about the sport when it isn’t. I made sacrifices for my job in sport and F1 I regret now my sons are grown. We ask too much of people who travel and work generally. More so in F1 than is reasonable. Rant ends

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

everyone in F1. It’s almost like you can’t say it because “you’re lucky to work in it”. And seriously - fuck anyone who says that. How dare you presume to choose what someone should or should not do with their lives because of your favourite driver? Yes I’m a bit angry today and heartbroken

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

Whilst F1 news is full of rumours and angry comments about a certain race engineer going to Aston Martin, the same man (one of the nicest and most private people I’ve ever met) has been through every dad and husband’s worst nightmare. I have spoken before about the toll the F1 life takes on

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Love it when the realities of broadcast workflows gets in the way of censorship. Willing to bet that’s now the most viewed segment in 60 minutes history.

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

Made by Richard’s son Linus. He’s been working on it for years.

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Then keep it to sports where it matters is the answer surely? Not trying to be an arse about it, but it has to mean something otherwise what’s the point? It genuinely feels like something from the 1980’s to me.

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Nonetheless I doubt a single one of the candidates could care less.

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

I struggle to think of any award with less relevance than SPOTY in 2025. Apart from the FIFA peace prize. It’s like winning a Blockbuster Award.

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

MBS is the person most likely to give Trump a peace award next isn’t he?

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

So farewell then Helmut. No one will miss him on a personal level, and many will be relieved he’s gone to put it mildly. The question is will Austria now replace him with a racer? Or corporate the team into the ground?

I loved the early footage of Oscar and the interview with their early team bosses and mechanics.

I think if most fans had a real understanding of what it is to produce hundreds of hours of live broadcasting they’d have a different perspective. Nothing is perfect. No one is going to be happy with everything. But ultimately everyone just wants the sport covered the best they can.

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I’ll take that. Have a good christmas mate.

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Fine to have a go at what it costs (I have to pay it too) but by god if you love the sport and want it covered you’ve never had it so good. And they spend their time trying to be fair and accurate whilst maintaining access and relationships with teams. If you think that’s easy, here’s a bridge.

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